Fire alarm device



Oct. 4, 1949. w. c. MESSICK 2,483,657

FIRE ALARM DEVICE Filed Dec. 30, 1948 Patented Oct. 4, 1 949 UNITED STATES PATENT- OFFICE FIRE ALARM DEVICE Willard C. Messick, Syracuse, N. Y.

Application December 30, 1948, Serial No. 68,282

'1 Claim.

This invention has for its object a self-contained fire alarm containing no movable parts and operable by the escape of a fluid made volatile when heated through a fragile sealing closure or disk which ruptures, or breaks, under pressure of the fluid above a predetermined degree into a sound device, as a whistle or horn, operated by the passage of the escaping fluid through the fractured sealing disk.

The invention consists in the novel features and in the combinations and constructions hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In describing this invention, reference is had to the accompanying drawing in which like characters designate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is an elevation, partly in section, of a fire alarm embodying this invention.

Figure 2 is an enlarged exploded sectional view of the fluid outlet coupling at the upper end of the container, the plug in the counterbore of the outlet passage of the coupling, and the fracturable sealing disk and gasket in the bottom of the counterbore and clamped therein by the plug.

l designates a container, or tank, for a fiuid made volatile when heated, as carbon dioxide CO2, the container being elongated, closed at one end and provided with an outlet at its other end.

2 designates an outlet coupling threading into the end, as the upper end of the container l and formed with an axial outlet passage 3 opening into a counterbore 4 at the upper end of the coupling.

5 is a plug threading into the counterbore and formed with an axial passage 6 alined with the passage 3 of the coupling 2, the passage 6 having a lateral or radial outlet port 1.

8 designates a horn or whistle including a pipe 9 having a coupling I 0 at its lower end threading 0n the upper end of the coupling 2 around the I plug 5.

l i designates a closure as a sealing disk of thin fracturable or rupturable metal which is located on a gasket I2 located in the bottom of the counterbore 4, and is clamped against the gasket by the plug 5. This disk is usually of copper and about .002 inch in diameter. The thickness determines approximately the degree of temperature at which the disk will rupture under the rising temperature and pressure of the volatile fluid in the tank. It is of such thickness as to rupture at a temperature of 150 F., or at a temperature of 120 F.

This fire alarm device is arranged to be mounted in upright position, and as here shown the pipe 9 is provided at its upper end with a ring l3 by which the device may be hung from the ceiling. It may be supported in upright position in any other manner.

These devices are placed in different parts of a building as, for instance, in the attic, basement, and certain rooms as the kitchen, closets, etc. Those placed in the attic are preferably provided with a disk H of such thickness as to be ruptured at a temperature of those in the basement of such thickness as to rupture at a lower temperature.

In operation, when a fire develops, the volatile liquid expands under the heat, ruptures the closure I l and the gas passes to the pipe 8 and sounds the whistle or horn until the gas is exhausted. The lateral direction of the outlet port I is for the purpose of producing a shrill sound in the whistle or horn and it will be noted that the gas or fluid issuing from the outlet port 1 in the plug 5 impinges against the interior Wall of the sound device below the whistle portion indicated at 8 and that the plug 5, with the port I therein, is spaced from the interior Walls of the sound device below the whistle portion thereof. The alarm, of course, gives warning to the occupants of the building to get out. The device is intended primarily for isolated buildings, as country hotels, residences, camps, etc., and owing to its construction with no movable parts and no parts to get out of order, it remains efiicient indefinitely over a long period of years.

What I claim is:

A self-contained fire alarm device comprising a container for a fluid rendered volatile by heat, the container having a threaded coupling in one end thereof and provided with a polygonal portion and an extended threaded portion thereon and formed with an outlet passage and an internally threaded counter-bore at the outer end of the passage, a disk of frangible material at the bottom of the counter-bore and normally closing the outlet, an exteriorly threaded plug of lesser cross sectional diameter than the said coupling Y fitting into the counterbore and against the disk,

clamping the disk against the bottom of the counter-bore, the plug having a passage therethrough in alignment with the said first mentioned passage, the said plug also having a lateral discharge port connecting with the passage therein and extending above the coupling, and a sound device having a whistle outlet spaced above the lateral port screw threadedly engaged with the threaded extension on the coupling and spacedly surrounding the plug and lateral port 3 4 and in communication with the said passages so that when the disk is fractured by the expansion REFERENCES CITED of said volatile fluid, the fluid from the container The followmg references are of record in the passes through the passages in the coupling and me Of this P plug and outwardly through the lateral port in 5 UNITED S TE P TENT the plug to impinge on the interior walls of the TA 8 A S sound device and thence to the whistle for efiect- Number Name e ing an alarm. 1,4 4,161 Thurston Apr. 25, 1922 2,211,142 Loudon Aug. 13, 1940 WILLARD c. MESSICK, 10 ,8 9 Towart Oct. 14, 1941 

